In the building construction industry, there is often a need to connect together (interconnect) a plurality of vertical studs to a horizontal header or sill such as, for example, during the construction of sheet-metal wall assemblies having doorway or window openings. In such wall assemblies, a horizontally positioned sheet-metal sill member is generally installed above a doorway or window opening, and a plurality of upwardly extending “kicker” studs are attached to the top portion of the sill member such that they extend upward to the ceiling (so as to define a section of the overall wall assembly). Consequently, and in order to facilitate the attachment of kicker studs to sill members, a number of specialty add-on “track” and “clip” components have been developed over the years as is known in the art. Exemplary in this regard is the ProX HEADER SYSTEM (inclusive of its related specialty track and clip components) sold by ClarkWestern Building Systems. The ProX HEADER SYSTEM is complex and expensive.
Therefore, and although some specialty connection components useful for interconnecting kicker studs to sill members within a wall assembly are known, there is still a need in the art for new and improved connector clips and related wall assemblies. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides for further related advantages.